The 19th century enabled wide perception of philosophy among the bourgeoisie. Descendents of that very social class are the two thinkers juxtaposed in the article: Arthur Schopenhauer and Thomas Mann. Thus, the thesis proposed in the article is that Buddenbrooks constitutes a literary interpretation of the philosophical system presented in The World as Will and Representation. It will be argued that the merchant family saga is a metaphor of both evolution of natural history and human civilization: departing from the most primal needs until the crowning of most sophisticated intellectual and aesthetical sublimation. Furthermore, it will be proved that Schopenhauer's philosophy in Mann's interpretation is a harbinger of existentialism.